Darkness in Light of a Better Word

Darkness in Light of a Better Word

Shock
& Aw-kward:

How ironic! As of late, it appears that
Obama may be going down in the history books as one of the most successful war
presidents this country has ever had when it comes to taking out enemy leaders.
The irony of it all, is that he prefers peaceful routes and to preside over
diplomatic means rather than militarily. For the conservative war hawks though,
it is indeed a very awkward moment to have a labeled ‘liberal’ to be quite the
war Commander-in-Chief.

Once entering office, Obama has upped
the ante more than five times over Bush, with a total of 235 drone strikes thus
far. He got right to work in stepping up drone attacks but yet, even though the
number of remote guided drone missile firings escalated, the number of civilian
casualties plummeted.

From the Bush years of 2004-2008, non
militant deaths from drone attacks were forty-two. Even though U.S. drone
attacks have escalated under Obama, while the civilian death rate under the Bush
years were trending towards 20%, in 2010 under Obama’s watch, innocent civilian
death rates dropped to 5% with 2011 presently hovering at 6.25 %. This states
that commensurate with increased drone attacks, more attention to detail and
precision has been added.

This information is from the politically
independent ‘New America Foundation’s counterterrorism strategy initiative
analysis of U.S. drone strikes.

(2009) Under Obama 10 militant leaders
are killed: these include in April, Abu Salayman al Jazairi, whom American
intelligence officials say planned and trained operatives for attacks in Europe
and the U.S.; in August, Baitalluh Mehsud a top Taliban leader; in September,
Nazimuddin Zalalov alias Yahyo who was a chief lieutenant to Osama bin Laden.

(2010) 15 militant leaders are killed:
these include in January, Hakimullah Mehsud who had close links and ties to
al-Qaeda; in February, Mohammad Qari Zafar a Taliban commander responsible for
the 2006 Karachi consulate bombing; in November, the Afghani Taliban
commanders, Sabir Mehsud & Mullah Abdul Agyoum.

(2011) This year has proven to be a
great year in terms of Obama being Commander-in-Chief in directing the ousting
of high value targets. Starting in February, the financial manager of
al-Qaeda’s affairs in Pakistan is struck dead by a drone delivered missile; in
May under Obama’s directed guidance of the plan, special forces killed Osama
bin Laden; in June, Ilyas Kashmiri, Pakistan’s top al-Qaeda commander is killed
by a drone attack; in September, the Yemeni-American born extremist cleric,
Anwar Al Awlaki who orchestrated the underwear bombing and the Fort Hood
massacre was killed by airstrike in Yemen; in October, the senior Haqqani
commander, Janbaz Zadran was killed by a drone strike and lastly this October,
Muammar Gadaffi was injured by a NATO airstrike, then killed by revolutionary
Libyan rebels.

Of course, all the conservative
Republicans have been whining by trying to belittle Obama’s involvement and
trying to neutralize the glory with attempts to steal credit for the
accomplishments. They have to be very careful on how hard a footstep they tread
here to not look so unpatriotic at a time that has stirred a little patriotism in
us all. But hey, they had to do something to take the wind out of the sails.

On how Obama approached Libya and Gadhafi,
Republicans chided him on every decision on how to conduct and tackle the
Libyan uprising. First they claimed Obama needs to get involved. Once he does,
they then complained how he did it. They complained as it was being conducted
that we weren’t leading the resistance and solely for this, the revolution
would turn into failure.

Of course now we know the results and
they occurred without putting one American soldier’s boots on the ground.
Listening before though to Republicans, American troops should have been our
option of choice even though we were tempered in two existing wars and as they
claim, the U.S. treasury is broke. Obama, in deciding simply to be background
support after the initial American airstrikes, proved very fruitful, for it got
other allies fully engaged up front.

After bin Laden was killed, all
conservatives tried in vain to issue all the credit to the special navy seal
team 6 forces, whom indeed deserves a full portion of the credit, since they
were the ones who actually conducted the raid. Obama though, picked and
directed the special operation all the way down to the wire when other top
officials were having second thoughts and preferred airstrikes.

Then they try to shift credit over to
the Bush administration…

The conservative media rushes out to
ensure Bush era credit:

Sean
Hannity: "There Was No Way This Would Have Happened, But For The Policies
Of George W. Bush." [Fox News,Hannity, 5/4/11]

Fox's
Bolling: "Thank GWB For This Not BHO!"From a May 2 post on Fox Business
host Eric Bolling's Twitter feed

Dick Cheney after initially stating
Obama deserves credit comes out of hiding and later states in May on ‘Fox News
Sunday’ that the Bush era enhanced interrogation (torture techniques) produced
vital information in the whereabouts of Osama.

Totally wrong, Cheney was just trying to
steal thunder, as there is no proof whatsoever that torture, in particular
waterboarding, produced viable information for any reliable intelligence
gathering much less than for bin Laden’s final demise.

George W. Bush, after first saying it
was “a victory for America,” remains silent for a few months, then comes out to
grab a bit of the glory for himself, when he stated in a September USA Today
interview that it was his intelligence that got the ball rolling in putting the
pieces of the puzzle together so that he should receive some credit.

Well, I suppose he should, but along
with that, Bush should also recognize it was his failure to capture or kill bin
Laden in Tora Bora of 2001. The American troops that had him and the city
surrounded, Bush had immediately withdrawn, deploying them out to Kuwait to
await the Iraqi invasion. This is failed action. It dragged the bin Laden
search out for another ten years.

Of course back then in 2002, Bush
stated, “I really just don’t spend that much time on him, to be honest with
you. I am deeply concerned about Iraq.”

The thing is, if the bin Laden raid had
been a failure, Republicans would have taken that all the way to the rich banks
they protect and doom the Obama administration, so at least in turn they should
at the bare minimum recognize his success in the foregone successful
conclusion.

Irregardless of the deserving credit, perhaps
these two statements sum it up best:

“We will kill bin Laden. We will crush
al Qaeda. That has to be our biggest national security priority,” Obama spoke these
words during the presidential debate on October 7. [CNN.com, 11/12/08].

Again to quote Bush in 2002 in reference to bin Laden, “I truly am not concerned about him.” From a March 14, 2002 Reuter’s article titled, “Bin
Laden not a concern: Bush.”

As the modern and I suppose revisionist conservatives
are trying to allude to in insinuating, ‘when Bush killed bin Laden,’ it kind of sounds more
like a falsified alternate story ending of hopeless illusions, now doesn’t it…

Megaphone
Phrasing:

You’ve pretty much heard them by now.
Like a broken record, Republican politicians and conservative talk show hosts
are all out there over and over decrying that Obama and the Democrats “are
pitting Americans against Americans” in “class warfare.” It’s as if they had
all gathered and huddled up in some dark closet with all taking a pledge to
repeat these ever so disparaging events at every opportune chance that
developed.

I guess this phrase first started off
back in June with Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell. When complaining
about and criticizing Obama, as he always does, as McConnell was orchestrating
the obstruction of the debt ceiling, he stated that Obama has “retreated behind
the poll-tested rhetoric of class warfare.”

Representative Paul Ryan on ‘Fox News
Sunday’ this September blurts out, “Class warfare…may make for really good
politics, but it makes for rotten economics.”

This past September, Speaker of the
House, John Boehner in responding to Obama’s job creation plan forewarned us
all in crying, “Pitting one group of Americans against another is not leadership.”

One of the more notorious for spreading
the Republican gossip is the nefarious little squirt, Majority House Leader, Eric
Cantor (R-VA). In the first part of this month, Cantor addressed a gathering of
religious conservatives in Washington D.C. and stated in reference to his
perceived notion of collusion between Wall Street protesters and Democrats,
“And believe it or not, some in this town have actually condoned the pitting of
Americans against Americans.”

Representative Paul Ryan mouthed the
“Americans against Americans” phrase off numerous times, but as exampled on his
interview with Dick Gregory on ‘Meet the Press’ October 9, 2011, upped the
phrase a notch where he said,

“Sewing class envy and social unrest is
not what we do in America… I think the president is doing that. I think he’s
preying on the emotions of fear, envy and anger, and that is not constructive
to unifying America. I think he’s broken his promise as a uniter and now he’s
dividing people; and to me that’s very unproductive.”

Actually, in my opinion anyway, sewing
unrest in America comes directly from the Republican’s playbook; what with all
the screaming of bogus death panel scares concerning the new healthcare plan,
along with it being government ran taking away people’s right to choose.
Pillaging out phony accusations that the government is broke scared a few
people. The false references of Obama being a socialist, fascist, Moslem,
non-American birth and unpatriotic, also still stirs people’s beliefs.

But what can one expect from Ryan. In
response to making his constituents pay to see him during this past August town
hall meetings, some have been demonstrating in front of his office. Instead of meeting
and talking to them, he and his office calls the police to have them arrested
and charged for trespassing.

In one protest incident this past
September, a protester began complaining about projected cuts in Medicare. The
police were on hand to slam him to the floor and arrest him. He gave no
resistance, for the protester was a seventy-one year old retired plumber; for
crying out loud, no need to be slammed to the floor. After the commotion, Ryan,
while addressing a Rotary Club audience makes a snide pun in saying, “I hope
he’s taking his blood pressure medication.” And I say to the Ryan pud, “I’m
sure he will…as long as you don’t take Medicare from him…”

Ryan said on that same ‘Meet the Press’
to Gregory, “I don’t disparage anybody who protests their government, for
better government no matter what perspective they come from.” How convenient
that his own words do not apply to his own actions…

Most of this phraseology rhetoric is in
retaliation to the ‘Occupy Wall Street’ movement. Republicans want to blame
Obama and the Democrats for it in hopes that it will instill fear and
resentment. I got to tell ya, their path of deceit isn’t working, for the Dems
had nothing to do with its formation. It simply started with everyday Americans
from all walks of life that feel disenfranchised from the current American way
and are fed up with the unnecessary suffering, struggling burden and neglect
that have been placed upon them. This movement wants to know why Wall Street profiteers
are profiting even more, while they…the protesters, as the everyday American
remain inflicted in economic strife.

Ya know, in counting, since September
I’ve seen or read Republicans stating these phrases thirteen times thus far. This
all is a bit befuddling as Republicans always claim that there is no class
distinction in America…we must all be middleclass right?

This Republican demeanor is enough to
shake the beak off a buzzard. It seems to them that there is never class
warfare or American versus American until the lower classes finally rise up to
protest the class discrepancies and stand up to fight back.

A
Mile Wide But an Inch Deep:

In obstructing job growth and economic
remedies to portray Obama as ineffective, it appears that conflict is the
Republican’s authored narrow-minded route. They only speak of bipartisanship
when it is their turn to promote an agenda as displayed during the debt ceiling
negotiations, no matter how much the country suffered from it.

Republican obstructionism to critical
economic and unemployment issues prompted the S&P to downgrade the U.S. AAA
rating and caught the ire and embarrassment of many CEOs, such as Thomas Wilson
of Allstate, James Gorman of Morgan Stanley and Howard Schultz of Starbucks.

Republicans holding hostage the national
debt ceiling, FEMA funding for tornado, wildfire devastation and hurricane
national relief and FAA funding that axed 90,000 jobs is not in the best
interests of the country.

Withholding the country’s lawmaking
legislation and holding these entities hostage while pressing hard and pushing
for passage of mundane goofiness caricatured as so pertinent to the well-being
of the country is such bombastic insolence. Republican defunding of National
Public Radio (NPR), axing the ‘Planned Parenthood’ budget, busting unions, protecting
the Bush tax cuts, slashing education & job programs, defending the Defense
of Marriage Act (DOMA) and repeal of the new healthcare law is of the mentality
below that of a spoiled ten-year-old brat. How Republicans can perceive these
venues as so urgently important to ignore and actually add to the average
American’s suffering and plight during these dire economic times is beyond my
realm of thinking? They do this at the expense of the country only in vain attempts to get what
they always bawl about, while casting the resultant’s blame Obama’s way. Forget the country in
all this Republican hooplah…

Three times they pushed our country to
the brink of ineffectiveness in their push for social budget cuts and rich tax
break agendas. Dragging the country through the toxic muss with manufactured
crises during a time of economic crisis, is tantamount to very unsavory
principles and that’s all there is to it.

As Representative Debbie
Wasserman-Schultz (D-FL) so eloquently put it this month on CNNs ‘State of the
Union,’ “You want to talk about sitting on the sidelines? They’re [Republicans] the ones that have just been crossing their arms and hoping for failure.”

Now, with public protest mounting and
the buildup of the Occupy Wall Street movement, due to these Republican power
strategies and inactions to the ailing middleclass, Republicans are beginning
to sweat.

Tender
Egos:

Poor Rick Santorum, the one you never
hear about in the Republican debates. When Saturday Night Live (SNL) did a sketch on the Republican debates,
they portrayed him as stuck in a gay bar. The sketch was funny, but for forlorn
Santorum, it hurt his wee-tenderfoot feelings. He said they were bullying him.

Never mind how he bullies gays and
lesbians in comparing them to having sex with dogs, or stating that he wished single women, in particular single moms would marry a man so that it would
change their voting tendencies to Republicans. Yeah, we all know that the schoolyard bully
only expects to do the bullying, for when the role is reversed and done to him,
he gets his feelings hurt and seeks the nearest refuge corner.

Last April of this year, Obama gave a budget
speech. He gave Paul Ryan a special invitation to attend, even reserved for him
a front row seat. During the speech, Obama promptly castrated Ryan’s own budget
plan and diplomatically picked it apart one by one on its inaccuracies and
failures. Later, after the speech, Republican boohooing commenced in leaps and
bounds.

Probably figuring in their own twisted
minds, since the president gave Ryan a seat in the front row that Obama would
praise their upcoming Republican star and give a bullet point analysis on how
grand his budget scheme was. Instead, it got the tongue lashing that it
deserves and Obama spanked it good.

Immediately Republicans went out onto
the airwaves calling Obama “uncivil” and that he should “call Ryan to the White
House and apologize” to him in person for hurting the poor Representative’s
feelings. Wah-wah-wah all the way home…

Has anyone ever heard a positive comment
come from a Republican concerning Obama. I certainly haven’t for it is always
negative. But when Obama charges back, how dare he…

Because of what President Obama said and
did not say this past summer by keeping a negotiation line open, then daring
Republicans to side with the interests of corporations, the big oil industry,
hedge fund managers and the extremely wealthy against elderly fixed income
grandmas, schoolchildren and the middleclass in general, it hurt their feelings. GOP pundit and commentator, Mark Halperin even called Obama a “dick” for doing this. But so be it, it may
have hurt the child-like Republican congressmen’s feelings, but by pulling a
goat’s whiskers, the response is not an excuse to be absolved of
responsibilities in performing the country’s duties.

Due to hurt feelings, Rick Perry is now currently
relying on wife support. Recently
this month, Anita Perry addressed in South Carolina an audience at Greenville
University. Before bursting out into tears she questioned why everyone was
being so brutal to her husband; even GOP candidates she said over religious
matters. Ya know, the same sweet man that mercilessly and without predication called
our Federal Reserve Board Chairman, Ben Bernanke a traitor.

Her exact quote was, “We are being
brutalized by our opponents and by our party. So much of that is I think they
look at him because of his faith,” Continuing, Mrs. Perry said, “He is the only
true conservative. Well, there are some other conservatives, and they are there
for good reasons. And they may feel like God called them too. But I truly feel
that we are here for that purpose.”

Now guess what she did on the next leg
of her speech immediately after pining about the criticisms of her husband. She
goes right on the attack and does her own criticizing of Obama and Herman Cain,
along with any other person that might disagree with her husband’s choices.

I just surmise here that criticizing and
demeaning is simply a Republican addiction, as long as they’re the one doing
the poking.

Apparently this is so, but Perry took it
to a higher ecclesiastical level by blaming God on the BP oil spill acquitting
the greed of BP officials in cutting corners. In defending BP, speaking to the
Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C. in May of 2010, Perry, instead of
blaming man’s actions, blamed God in stating, “I hope we don’t see a knee-jerk
reaction across this country that says we’re going to shut down drilling in the
Gulf of Mexico... From time to time there are going to be things that occur
that are acts of God that cannot be prevented.”

The biggest of all Republican whines
though occurred three years ago during the $700 billion bail-out debate.

For the initial failed bail-out House vote
in September of 2008, Republicans in the US House of Representatives blamed it
squarely on the former Democrat House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi’s speech. No, it
couldn’t have been due simply from their own actions, conduct and voting.

GOP House Leader at the time, John
Boehner said, “I do believe that we could have gotten there today had it not
been for this partisan speech that the speaker gave on the floor of the House.”
Boehner continues, “I mean, we were, we were…we put everything we had into
getting the votes to get there today. But the speaker had to give a partisan
voice that poisoned our conference; caused a number of members (who we thought
we could get) to go south.”

What Pelosi said was nothing against
House Republicans, but simply a truthful account that it was Bush economic
policies that got the country into this mess. But according to Boehner, simply
because this little grandma scolded Bush policy, it was enough to hurt the
feelings of these big brave congressmen, so they voted no. Aw, to get yore
feelings hurt from a speech then respond by sending the country’s financial
being down the tubes, must take a real man…

Be
Very Afraid:

The success and rapid growth of the
Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement, which is now occupying America, apparently
has some Republican officials ducking for cover.

At that same Washington D. C. meeting
mentioned earlier, Eric Cantor also said, “This administration’s failed
policies have resulted in an assault on many of our nation’s bedrock
principles. If you read the newspapers today, I, for one, am increasingly
concerned about the growing mobs occupying Wall Street and the other cities
across the country.”

Rush Limbaugh in his demented demeanor
has had a lot to say about OWS, such as…calling them stupid; that he was more
self-sufficient at age 10 than “this parade of human debris calling itself
Occupy Wall Street;” that the protesters are “perpetually spoiled rotten 99%
white kids;” that they are “pure genuine parasites” and are “bored trust fund
kids.” However ironic that may be, Rush’s latest is a deranged theory of his he’s
propping up that the movement is anti-Semitic and that Obama started it while under the cover organizing it. Sounds a lot like the OWS has really got the fat
boy roiling in fearfulness and he is freaking.

Maybe we shouldn’t forget Glenn Beck. On
his (10/10/2011) Monday radio show Beck heeded this dire warning, “Capitalists,
if you think that you can play footsies with these people, you’re wrong. They
will come for you and drag you into the streets and kill you...they’re Marxist
radicals.”

Then he becomes theatrically dark when
he prophesizes that the only way to control the mass of protesters is a
forceful crushing from “the top.” He finalizes this with, “It will be the
Knight of the Long Knives. It will be a purging of this country.” The Knight of
the Long Knives is in direct reference to the purge Nazis and Hitler carried
out in exterminating liberals and moderates. Nice parallel Beck.

Oh, and let’s not forget Boehner. He
hasn’t said anything publicly that I’m aware of but I bet he’s had a lot to say
privately and under his breath. Boehner has been nailed at two golf outings by
protesters post and prior the OWS start-up.

Boehner attended a golf outing at a
private golf course in Wayzata, Minnesota this past August where attendees paid
$10,000.00 a piece to have the privilege of playing a round with him and a few
other Republican politicians. Once play started, a few hundred protesters had
sneaked in along with an airplane circling overhead flying a banner protesting
budget cuts and lack of job creation. The protesters were tired of the inaccessibility
for constituents to Republican politicians.

The other Occupy Golf Course protest that
disturbed Boehner’s golf outing occurred just this month at the private Pelican
Hill Golf Club in New Port Beach, California. Playing in the Orange County
Republican’s Party’s Reagan Cup Tournament, again Boehner was raising money for
the Republican Party.

The fifty or so protesters with
bullhorns were similarly protesting as had the Minnesota protest and that is if
millions can be raised for the Republican Party, why not also invest some in
job creation.

The OWS is not an unruly mob or
representing any one entity as Republicans and some media outlets suggest. You
will find the whole cross section of America involved from janitors to
professionals, from the unemployed to the well-off, to the young and elderly.

It is not unruly and overall has been quite
civil. It is simply average Americans tired of being overlooked. Yes, pretty
much, there is no real base of organization, but that is the beauty and
strength of it…it functions on its own accord.

The likes of Cantor may call them mobs without
rule, but he feels intimidated even though he praised the Tea Party uprising,
heralding them as “fighting on the fighting lines of what we know is a battle
for our democracy.”

But of course, when the Tea Party people
were angrily disrupting Democrat town hall meetings, spitting into
congressmen’s faces, vandalizing Democrat offices and sending out death
threats; for Republican politicians that was merely patriotism at work…nothing
to be afraid of.

But for politicians rebuking OWS as
merely an unruly mob, then yes…be afraid, be very afraid. They don’t much go
for our kind.

When you have time, watch the Jon
Stewart video below to get a better idea of what the OWS is and is up against
while getting a laugh or two as well.

To operate under the veil of deceit and
lies, especially in positions of power and influence once was as anti-American
as eating black pudding. Without doubt though that is now the Republican and modern
conservative’s current approach.

Republicans are well aware they have a
weak field in presidential candidates and have been courting others extensively
to join the fold. Let’s see, first there were Jeb Bush, Mitch Daniels and Chris
Christie. Bush and Daniels gave an emphatic no. Then there was Paul Ryan and
Chris Christie. Ryan gave an emphatic no. Then there was Donald Trump and Chris
Christie. Trump said yes only for the limelight, then folded up the tent and
exited. Then there was Rick Perry and Chris Christie. Perry said yes, but
turned out to be a dud.

Oh and did I mention Chris Christie?
Finally, he gives his last emphatic “No” and gives up the ghost. Christie knew
all along he wasn’t going to run, but all the limelight was good for his ego
and was just plain ol’ good for business. He’s smart enough to know he’s
physically and perhaps mentally not ready to hold the presidential office for a
potential eight years. That would be eight years of grueling 18 hour a day
scheduling. For a big ol’ Boy, that could be devastating.

The Republican National committee is a
bit sly. To ensure they have a chance at winning the next presidential
election, after looking over their candidates, have decided the candidates
themselves won’t do it. So, I gather that is the reason for the big push in Republican
states to redisctrict under a shroud of secrecy.

Republicans have been working on
redistricting maps for months in their favor across the states. This is routine
for any party that is currently in power, and in fact every state is
constitutionally required to undergo redistricting based on new decennial
population results, but what’s different this time around is that Democrats and
the general public see these new Republican mappings for the first time usually
within a week or two before lawmakers are expected to approve them. It hardly
gives time to counter.

Also on ethical grounds, the ruling
party normally reaches out to opponent parties, ethnic caucuses and any other
outside group or entity, such as citizen commissions for their input. Not this
time, Republicans are using their own knives in carving out the new districts.
When you have nothing but Republicans behind closed doors in states like
Wisconsin, Tennessee, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas drawing up the new
districting, you don’t have to ponder much about the outcome.

Speaking of Wisconsin, if you may
recall, Governor Scott Walker fought long and hard to take bargaining rights
and benefits from state employees to fund his tax deductions for wealthy
Wisconsinites and subsidies for corporations like industries owned by the shady
Koch Brothers. Well, with his Republican backed state legislation and some
questionable moves, he finally succeeded.

The deal is, although he ensured public
workers are to pay more for their pensions as he insisted that was the only
fair thing, he also said if elected he would in turn pay his fair share. Indeed
to show fairness, back in June of 2010 when he was on the campaign trail
canvassing for the governorship, he made a promise.

In June 2010, “As governor, I’ll pay my
share toward my retirement because everyone should pay their own way, including
me,” Walker said during the campaign.

To lead by example, he promised immediately
to pay the full cost of his state pension if elected. Well, he did get elected
and took the governor’s seat this past January. Apparently though, he has a
short term memory. As of this date he has not paid a penny of it. Funny how he
can make it a priority as the first item on his list to force state employees
to pay higher costs, but when it comes to a forgotten promise, he still gets
his pension for free.

As promised, pay up sir, your workers
certainly have to now, you made a point of that…

The
Vindictiveness of it All:

During these times of economic crisis
and low job growth, Republicans have been taking full advantage of citizen
angst and are casting out the lies.

First off, when you have every
Republican in office not giving credence to any form of legislation that might
spur job creation in hopes of making it appear Obama as ineffectual is
ineffectual governance in itself. To have the Republican leader, Mitch
McConnell demanding that his fellow Republican senators pledge to say no to
anything Obama wants legislated, then of course the country is going to remain
in gridlocked economic pain.

Every policy the President has proposed
to create jobs, reform Wall Street, and preserve Social Security and Medicare
has been opposed by Republicans. They offer no alternate proposals except
regurgitated solutions that miserably failed during the Bush years and are the
fingerprints that lead and put us into this economic time of woe. With three
wealthy Bush tax cuts and eight years of the trickle down method, where are we
now?

But to lie in taking advantage of the
dire situation is a tad sorry. I’ll not mention any names here, for it pretty
much is the GOP stance in general and they have spread these lies over and over
enough that hypnotically they are seared into the psyche of most Americans.

GOP Lie #1: Obama has failed to create
jobs.

Not true. Obama’s administration created
more private sector jobs during his first eighteen months in office than Bush
did his entire eight years in office. Obama’s first two years in office saw
~865,000 private sector jobs created per year according to a September 2010
Wall Street Journal report. This is more than double the job per year performance
during the Bush years and might you remember, Bush had much better conditions
to operate under in what he inherited form Clinton as opposed to what Obama
inherited.

GOP Lie #2: The stimulus bill failed.

Not true, but it may not have been as
effective as it could’ve been, for it was strung out under legislation and
ultimately left hanging without follow-up. ‘The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’ filled the ranks of the employed by 3.3 million. Anyone as president under the
conditions the country was in at the time would have initiated some form of stimulus
package.

GOP Lie #3: Obama and the Democrats want
to tax everybody.

Not true. Every time a Republican
mentions the Bush tax cuts in defending them, he/she always says “taxing the
people,” “more taxes,” “no more taxes” or “taxing Americans.” They never say
what it is in taxing only 2% of the wealthiest population that could certainly
afford it. Even though we know this, Republicans want us to subliminally think
of these as a general tax affecting us all. Obama has never proposed taxing the
middleclass; in fact he’s issued out tax forgiveness for the middleclass and is
trying to extend the payroll tax deduction that Republican’s are actually
fighting him on. Also, small businesses are not under any additional taxation
as proposed by Obama as Republicans try to make us think when they say tax
increases will hurt small businesses time-in and time-out.

GOP Lie #4: Deficits are growing under
Obama.

Not true. They are not no matter how you
look at it, either in actual dollars or as a percentage of GDP. Remember the
trending direction defines deficit. Since taking office after Bush, in which
the upward trend was catastrophic, Obama’s time in office, though just slightly
has reversed the trend’s direction in sending it downwards.

GOP Lie #5: The GOP is the party of
fiscal discipline.

This is so not true and especially
during modern times. The national debt tripled under Reagan, almost doubled
under the first George Bush, found sanctity under the Clinton years, then
doubled banefully higher under George W. Bush. Republicans indeed do spend and
in excess. It’s just that the Republican image in defunding programs for
average citizenry appears that they are cutting back. But, with the monetary
funding they take from social and public programs for everyday Americans, they
don’t put it into savings, oh no, they spend it and more in their under the
table programs and policies that aren’t so publicly exposed.

So much for the phrase, ‘The truth shall
set you free.’

It’s the meanness and lack of any
consideration for others more trodden that really makes me disdain Republican
mentalities. This Republican mental package is nicely wrapped into one monetary
and power excess and that is…greed. To win at all and any costs…

Republicans sending out bogus voting letters
to Democrat leaning constituents for the Wisconsin state legislature recall
elections and the West Virginia governorship had a specified return mail back
date two to three days after the election was over. Henceforth, canceling or
nullifying a voter’s vote is deviant behavior.

Republican strategists feel they can’t
win unless they cripple voter registration. In at least fifteen states, new
Republican photo ID voting laws have been passed to discourage the elderly, the
poor and students from voting since they traditionally vote Democrat. In Texas,
a student photo ID is not accepted to cast a vote, but a member of the National
Rifle Association membership card is. Seems that in a democratic country voting
would be encouraged, not discouraged.

Just last week, Republican senators kept
their record of filibustering every bill Obama has put forth in tact by
filibustering the president’s legislation to put 400,000 educators and
policemen back to work. Again, getting people back to work is not the
Republican’s priority; only in seeing Obama fail is their goal.

The National Republican Congressional
Committee’s (NRCC) TV attack ads are only going to increase since the
conservative side of the Supreme Court’s decision to allow corporations to
anonymously donate unlimited sums to political candidates.

The one they aired in Nevada against
Democrat Kate Marshall, who was running for congress was so blatantly bogus
that it was pulled off the air by the TV stations.

In it, the NRCC claimed Kate Marshall,
as state treasurer during the financial crisis is responsible for Nevada’s high
unemployment and high mortgage foreclosures, when in fact she had nothing to do
with what went on in Wall Street and Washington D.C. Later after the ad was
pulled, Tyler Q. Houlton, a NRCC spokesman, in defending the ad said, “The
fact remains that, during Kate Marshall’s tenure as Nevada's treasurer, the
economy suffered the largest increase in unemployment and home foreclosure
rates in the nation.

”

Oh really, well how inexcusable of Mrs.
Marshall for living at the time of the national and international financial
crisis.

Another Republican deceptive ad was
pulled from the airwaves in Ohio this month covering the state’s Issue 2. This
legislation, though passed by the Republican governor, John Kasich and legislators
was brought forth by petition to be voted on by the citizenry concerning
cutting pensions and bargaining rights of public employees. Opponents of the
legislative bill aired an ad that had a grandmother praising public employees
and how firemen and emergency medics had saved her grandchild. She was a big
hit in the TV ad. So much so that Republicans decided to use her in their ad by
splicing her image into it and having a voiceover appear to say that she was
for Issue 2. All this was done without her knowledge.

How they thought that they could get
away with this is beyond anyone with normal comprehension. Kasich states that
he actually supports the ad, although adds that he had nothing to do with it.
Maybe not, but his chief of staff, Beth Hansen who’s making a sweet $170,000.00
per year took a leave of absence to coordinate the Republican group who later
came out with the deceptive advertisement.

Targeting key states such as Michigan,
New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, the Republican National Congress
(RNC) is beginning to air attacks on Obama labeling him as a failure and
highlighting deceptive Republican candor accusing him solely of the high
unemployment, raising taxes on Americans and the one responsible for all the
mortgage foreclosures and financial crisis. Obama must be one powerful dude,
far more than what the title president
offers.

For him to have twisted the arms of financial
institutions, mortgage brokers, and bankers to conduct all those predatory
derivative transactions, credit default swaps and shadow banking systems, while
forcing corporations to sit on trillions of dollars and don’t dare spend it on
hiring and development; wow, that is one almighty powerful sway he’s got there.

One cannot expect much more from the NRC
though, for its chairman is Gregory B. Jaczko, one of numerous Republicans who
say “it wouldn’t have been the end of the world” if America ever defaults on
its debt. Surely a twerp like this can reassure us all with a few deceptive
attack ads.

A GOP attack ad started airing this past
September in Montana, showing Democrat senator, Jon Tester embracing and
shaking hands with Obama. The ad was put out by the National Republican Senatorial
Committee (NRSC) and shows all five fingers on Tester’s left hand. The ad is
obviously being displayed to show how cozy Tester is with Obama to a
conservative audience in a red leaning state. The only problem is… Tester has had
three fingers missing from his left hand ever since a childhood farming
accident.

The made-up photo is being defended by
the NRSC in stating that when they edited out people in the background, they
accidentally left a man’s hand in the final cut. Very strange though how that
hand accidentally made it right onto the left wrist of Tester.

To take the cake though, has to come
from New Jersey. Three Tea Party Republican candidates, Fernando Alonso, John
Driscoll and Richard Goldberg in running for state legislator positions, pulled
together and ran an ad against their three respective Democrat opponents. Now,
ya might want to be sitting down before reading any further, because it is I
promise ya, that goofy in stretching the bounds of reality much less the
stretch in lying. They contended that the entire global collapse of the economy
was caused due to the direct and secret collusion of their Democrat rivals with
then Senator Obama.

I can’t even imagine my six-year-old kid
coming up with something that bizarre with her active imagination, much less
adults running for public office that would be held responsible for the welfare
of their constituents.

Even the governor of that state,
Republican Chris Christie had to concur that these three Republican nitwits
were grasping with straws in airing this incredible negative campaign. Amazing
grace…

Diagnosis
vs. Remedy:

After reading the above, a chuckle or
two had to cross your lips, but as funny as they might be, they occur on a
common basis and are an indication of how ailing our political system (that
originates the laws of the land) is becoming.

Without doubt I behaved in this article,
a bit on what I was complaining about with my slandering. Hopefully, as to the
best of my knowledge, when I slandered it was warranted. Whether that makes it
justifiable or not, I’m asking you to be the judge.

I’m well aware that my bashing of
Republican noggins through words is not the best way to win over converts. But
eyes have to be jolted open first from lethargy to absorb, then assimilate the
exposed actions of devious behavior that we have become accustomed to and
perhaps even have accepted. But no matter our party platform tag, we have to
realize the truth and with that serving as the base, go on from there.

We have learned a lot about current
Republican mentalities from just the GOP primary debates; the audience booing a
soldier based in Iraq because he’s gay.

After a question was raised by the
moderator Wolf Blitzer, should a man be allowed to die who has a life
threatening condition unless treated, but has no insurance, an audience member
who shouted out, “Let him die,” erupted the audience into cheers and clapping.

In both these cases, the GOP candidates
all stood there in silence and did not offer one bit of a defense for the
soldier or hypothetically sick man.

When Perry the good Christian that he
is, but no less has most likely issued the execution of an innocent man in
Texas, pronounces in defiant tones he is for capital punishment, again the
crowd breaks out into raucous roars and cheers.

A bumper sticker always comes to mind
when I think of the moral majority, women’s rights and the death penalty…Fundamental Christians only like you as a
fetus.

Is this coherent or incoherent behavior?
Is it the trend we really want to go down into? When times are tough, is it
fair to pick scapegoats such as immigrants, the poor, gays and lesbians to vent
anger and blame out on?

Do you truly believe our current
economic condition along with the extreme weather in tornadoes, fires and
hurricanes is God’s actions in punishing us for our sins, as Michelle Bachmann
alludes to?

Consumer spending is down because
consumers have no confidence due to unemployment, under employment or no employ
to offer whatsoever to the middleclass. With Republican politicians doing
nothing to relieve middleclass pangs and actually taking programs away that
relieved economic woes, only adds to the misery. How can one expect consumers
to embrace confidence?

Upward mobility is becoming rapidly, a
thing of the past.

The lowest unemployment in a hundred
years was under the start of Republican Dwight Eisenhower’s presidential term
at 2.5% in 1953. But also, as no coincidence, the highest corporate tax rates
were in existence too.

With these high tax rates of up to 92%,
corporations and industry didn’t pay that full tax amount if they used that
profit liquidity to reinvest in technology and new hiring.

When today’s Republicans tell you that 35%
corporate tax rates are too high and that is why businesses don’t hire, don’t
for one second believe them. First off, hardly any corporation pays that amount
while many don’t pay one dime in taxes. The corporate subsidies, tax loopholes
and tax breaks take care of that. But with no incentive to reinvest that profit
as back in the ‘50s, CEOs just ensure the money is pocketed and sits in their
coffers. The GOP politician is working for his/her donor, not you.

This hurts the country twofold.
Companies have no incentive to hire, which hurts the economy and the lack of
reinvesting back into R&D and technology, pushes American companies into
the back of the pack in coming up with newer concepts and product to meet
current challenges. American companies are losing their competitive edge.

In protecting the wealthiest from a
stipend of any tax increase, Republicans neglect that 1% own 40% of the wealth,
while the bottom 40% who spend, own only 1% of the wealth. In a democratic
society that kind of reversed lopsidedness will destroy an open consumer market;
the money needs to be spread out more evenly.

Banging down the doors of Social Security
and Medicare do not lessen the deficit as Republicans would like us to believe
and are two of the most efficient programs this country and its government have
ever produced and conducted.

Medicare is far more effective and
honest than any policy a private insurer has to offer. Before Social Security,
a little over 50% of America’s elderly lived in poverty. Today, due primarily
to Social Security that rate has dropped to 10%. We should all be fighting
tooth and nail for these two government entities to remain intact and whole.

I am eternally and internally an
optimist, for nothing is impossible; it is just that certain things are a little
more possible than others. That’s all…

Reporting as
Referendum,

BJA

10/26/2011

A P.S. News Flash: A new hopeful has
just announced his candidacy for the U.S. presidency and has tossed his name
into the GOP candidate ring. It is none other than Terry Jones that Quran
burning pastor from Florida. His platform is based on a seven point plan, one
of which is to immediately deport all illegal immigrants and remains
anti-Islam. He’s calling his campaign ‘Stand Up America Now’ and does have
financial backing from a few conservative and religious principles along with
a couple of right-wing groups.

It just seems that the Republican
candidates, instead of climbing the incline, increasingly keep rolling
downhill. I dare say the Republican Party is disintegrating from their own
means and devices. Good luck on that...

About Me

Entered the world as Bruce John Anderson. With a dad as Bruce and two John dangrads (grandpas), grandma thought it too confusing, hence the nickname B.J. I've had ever since I was six months old; yet some folks refer to me as simply...The Beej.

Born in Stephenville, Texas on the Sunday morn of 11/09/52 and while growing up in the Fort Worth area, I have a West Texas flair about perception in life. Currently, I’m a misplaced Texan residing in NW Pa. and that is OK, for one Texan is about equal odds to one Yankee state. This ol' Texan does indeed love the snow up here. Snow is about the only thing I know of that can even make a junkyard look pretty.

Graduated: Trinity HS (Euless, TX) in ‘71 and later from The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) in ‘84 with a Bachelors in geology.

Had my first set of children Amber (1971) & Jason (1974) as a young man and my second set Claire (2003) & Paige (2005) I had as an old man. Am married to sweetness in Veronica my wife.

I extol the science disciplines working as a microbiologist, geophysicist, chemist & geologist.

Work has taken me into 39 countries. It’s amazing witnessing firsthand the varying cultures and environs, but prefer the myriad similarities; the old man sitting on a tree stump in front of his central Sudan mud hut was the same old man sitting in his favorite rocker on a West Texas front porch; both just sitting back watching the world go by while pondering it all.

My motto in life is don't take it so seriously, it's not like it's permanent.